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What was involved?
The work involved making changes to my home that would make it more accessible and suitable to my condition. I'm a paraplegic and Peter was brought in to build an extension, add a wetroom, a deck and raise up and cobblelock the driveway. Raising things up made it easier to get onto the porch and into the house with a wheelchair or scooter.

How did you choose Swords Building Contractors Ltd?
The occupational therapist I was working with suggested making the changes to the lower portion of the house because getting up the stairs was becoming less of an option. She recommended getting an architect in to come up with some ideas that would be suitable and we took it from there.

We found an architect and we asked him if he could recommend a builder who had all of the certifications required by the government to carry out this type of grant work and he recommended Peter. We discussed the project with Peter, explained what we wanted done and talked about price and scheduling. Based on the architects recommendation and the positive feel that we had about Peter, we chose him to carry out the work.

Had you definite ideas in mind before you talked to Peter Ashmore?
The architect had put together three separate sets of plans that would be suitable in order to stay within the grant requirements and we chose one that we liked.

Did Peter introduce new ideas?
He did but since we were working from architects plans, his ideas were more to do with practical matters. Because we needed to stay within strict guidelines for the grant, there really wasn't much scope for alternative suggestions.

How did the project run?
My philosophy is that if you're going to do something, do it the right way and Peter's workmanship reflected the same philosophy. Peter's a very experienced man in what he does and it shows and we never had any problems moving forward with the project. Peter did absolutely everything, not only the things we asked him to do but extra as well. Peter really went over and above the requirements and the project all worked out as Peter said it would.

What was the biggest benefit to you of using Swords Building Contractors Ltd?
The biggest benefit to me is Peter's reliability. Any questions or concerns I had during the project were always addressed and I know that if anything extra needs to be done or looked after, I can always call Peter and know that it'll be sorted.

What's your favourite part now?
Believe it or not, my favourite part is the deck. It's lovely, gets plenty of sunlight, and it's got a 100% builders quality finish. I love going out there to sit in the sun and get fresh air.

Would you recommend Swords Building Contractors Ltd to others?
I have already done so.

Any tips for other people?
Without a shadow of a doubt, I recommend that in all building projects to get an architect to oversee the project and be the communications middle person between the homeowner and the builder. The architect can also be the one who handles the stages of payments that need to be made. I'm not a builder by trade so I wouldn't know what to look for in terms of quality and in my case it was very important. Since the work needed to be done to a particular standard in order to qualify for the grants, it was important for me to have someone who knew what to look for.